The uv and visible spectral properties of ferritin

Abstract The results of this investigation show that the visible and near ultraviolet extinction coefficients of the ferritin iron core increase as the content of iron per ferritin molecule increases. Additionally, the absorption spectrum of ferritin undergoes a red shift as the content of iron per molecule increases. These results suggest that use of the visible absorbance of ferritin to attempt to quantitate iron content or rate of iron exchange is subject to question. The experimentally determined coefficients of ferritin were used to calculate guidelines for the determination of the protein concentration of low-iron apoferritin or ferritin solutions by either absorbance or differential refractometry or a combination of both.